


Romantic as hell

by aces_low



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Fluff and Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 06:05:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11247846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aces_low/pseuds/aces_low
Summary: Joe Toye owns and operates a small but successful flower shop. And a new tattoo place opens up across the street. There are lots and lots of flowers.





	Romantic as hell

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a otp prompt that took over my mind yesterday. 
> 
>  
> 
> Unedited. So very unedited. I don't know why, I just decided I wanted this out instead of working on it anymore. Sorry.

“I don’t like the look of that place,” Mrs. Harman says in a hushed tone, even though she and Joe are currently the only two people in the store.

Joe just eyes her as he finishes wrapping up her bouquet, she doesn’t usually need him to add much to her conversations.

“Harold said that when tattoo places open in neighborhoods like this, then you know it’s going downhill.”

Joe sighs, he’s never met Harold, but this isn’t the first time he’s wanted to tell Mrs. Harman that her husband is a small-minded bigot who never notices the flowers she brings home for him to enjoy almost every day, despite the fact that she always says things such as ‘I think Harold will really like these’. 

Instead, he just says, “the guys that run it seem like good folks.” He doesn’t know that for sure, he had only seen a few people go in and out as they had been setting up for their opening. But none of the people he had seen looked like violent psychopaths from a distance, so he thinks the neighborhood is probably fine.

Mrs. Harman just shrugs, bored with the conversation now that Joe is unwilling to listen to her gossip. She lightens back up as Joe hands her the bouquet of flowers though.

“Oh, it’s beautiful, I think this may be your best one yet,” she tells him as she hands him her card. 

Joe grins and nods his head a little in thanks. She says that almost every time.

“Harold is really going to like these,” she says, more to the flowers than Joe. Then leaves with a short wave back toward him.

He gets three more people that day inquiring about the new tattoo shop that just opened across the street. All with varying degrees of concern. 

One man asks if Joe is planning on moving his shop. Joe assures him he has no plans of moving. This flower shop has been here for over twenty years, when his grandmother first opened it. There’s no way some tattoo parlor is going to run him out of business.

Another one of his regulars wonders aloud on how dangerous the people who go there will be. Joe would love to tell him that the man he has bought flowers from almost every week for a year has a few tattoos of his own. Granted, none of Joe’s tattoos are visible, but it’s still the principle of the thing. 

The new tattoo shop seems to be the favored topic of conversation all week.

“I was thinking maybe I’d get a tattoo,” Harry says on Wednesday, when he stops in to purchase his weekly bouquet for his wife.

Joe doesn’t even hide his eye roll, because he can already see the giant heart with Kitty’s name on it that Harry is no doubt planning.

“Maybe just stick to flowers to show your love for Kitty, huh?” Joe suggests.

Harry’s eyes narrow for a moment, probably wondering how Joe knows what he’d been thinking, but everyone knows Harry’s adoration for his wife, Joe hadn't been reaching far with that guess.

By Friday, Joe has about had it with everyone’s fascination with the tattoo shop. It’s 2017, tattoos are fairly common, and not some sign of the end of days. 

He hasn’t seen anyone that he can tell owns the place, but he figures maybe he should go over and check it out, and make sure all his customer’s fears aren’t founded in some kind of truth. 

So, he leaves Faye in charge as he walks across the street and opens the front door to the new shop.

There's a short beeping noise as he enters, and there’s some music playing through the store, but it’s not loud or particularly heavy sounding. The place looks clean, and there is art all over the walls, no doubt the work of the artist or artists that work here. It looks like any other tattoo shop he’s been in before, maybe even a little nicer, at least nicer than the ones he’d gone to when he was younger.

There’s a girl and a guy sitting at a table on the other side of the store, the girl is listening as the guy talks and sketches. Before he can take more than a couple steps inside, someone walks out from behind a curtain separating the back of the building from the main part.

The guy has thick, dark hair to match his eyes, and his smile grows when he spots Joe.

“Hey, man, you just browsing or want to set something up?” he asks, walking over to him.

“Oh, no, actually I uh, was just stopping in to meet the owner?” Joe says, and wonders why he didn’t actually think through what he was going to say.

“That’s me, George Luz at your service,” George says, somehow smiling even wider. 

He’s a little shorter than Joe, and has almost a spring in his step as he walks. Honestly, Joe can't help but think the guy is a little bit adorable and that he doesn’t look much like the types of people he usually sees working in tattoo parlors. Not that there’s one particular type of person he’d expect to work at one. And he’s not going to judge George based on something as inconsequential as him being cute.

“Great, uh, I’m Joe…Toye, I own the shop across the street.”

George looks over Joe’s shoulder and his eyebrows furrow for a moment.

“The flower shop?”

“Yeah.”

“ _You_ own that flower shop?” 

Joe’s polite smile slips into his patented scowl. “Yes, that’s my flower shop, why?”

George’s eyes widen. “Oh, no, sorry, no reason I…I’ve been meaning to stop in and meet you too, say ‘hello’ to all the new neighbors and all that, when I had a chance,” he rushes to say.

The scowl doesn’t completely fade from Joe’s face but he shrugs. He’s used to people being surprised by his line of work. Apparently, he just doesn’t have ‘the look’ of someone who owns a flower shop, whatever look that’s supposed to be. He’s met plenty of people who own flower shops, and none of them have had a distinctive, similar look to any of the others.

“Right, well, just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood,” Joe lies, taking George’s reasoning for stopping by for himself. “I’ll see you around.”

“Wait, wait,” George says, before Joe can fully turn toward the door.

Joe sighs and turns back to look at George. His eyes are wide and all apologetic looking and Joe finds that he can’t really hold onto any anger he might feel towards this guy. Which Joe thinks might end up being very problematic for him.

“I wasn’t judging, really. Flowers are fucking awesome, I love flowers,” George insists, and now it’s Joe’s turn to raise his eyebrow.

“Uh, right?” Joe’s never had someone tell him that flowers are ‘fucking awesome’ before, so he’s not exactly sure what to say, but George’s enthusiasm has his already fading anger slip away.

“No, really. Like, there are all different kinds, and they can be used for so many different things, and…and I mean, half the stuff I tattoo on people are flowers. Flowers are pretty badass if you think about it.”

Joe genuinely has no idea what to say as George continues to ramble on about how great flowers are. He’s never heard anyone get so excited about flowers before, and he’s been to Florist Conventions. 

“Just look at the rose-“ George starts but Joe has to cut him off before he keeps this going any longer.

“Ya know, I actually have to get back to work. But, that’s cool you’re so enthusiastic about Floriculture. Maybe some time we can discuss phytopathological issues.”

George blinks a few times. “Phy-ph…hell yeah, absolutely, anytime man. Definitely.”

Joe almost feels a little bad now, George doesn’t know him, and is clearly just trying to back pedal from his earlier comment, so Joe decides to give him a break.

“It was a joke,” Joe explains, awkwardly. 

Usually, when people don’t get his jokes – which is most of the time, if he’s being honest – he doesn’t feel the need to explain it. But he’s sort of worried that with an invitation like that, George will probably avoid him forever, and for some reason, Joe feels like maybe he doesn’t want George Luz to avoid him forever.

The amount of relief he can see in George’s eyes seems a bit like overkill, but he can’t help but grin just a little to mirror George’s growing smile.

“Oh, thank Christ. That was good, Joe. Ok, so we even?” George asks, holding out his hand for Joe to shake.

Joe eyes the hand for a moment, but figures it can’t hurt anything to get along with the cute, tattoo shop owner. So, he grabs George’s hand and shakes.

“Yeah, we’re good.”

 

Luz is in the back office when he hears Liebgott enter the shop, walk into the front room, and then immediately start cursing. It’s not completely out of the ordinary, so Luz doesn’t get up to see what his problem is today. Though, he doesn’t need to, as Liebgott barges his way into Luz’s office just a few seconds later.

“I thought we agreed you’d wait until more of the flowers died before getting another batch,” Liebgott says, his hand still gripping the doorknob.

“It’s called a bouquet, Lieb, Jesus.”

Liebgott continues to just glare at him.

“A couple of them started drooping yesterday,” Luz tries.

“No more flowers, George. No more new flowers in the shop until we get back to a manageable amount.”

“It’s my store. I can have as many flowers as I want,” Luz argues.

“Yeah, and I agreed to come work for you, in a tattoo shop, not The Secret Fucking Garden,” Liebgott shoots back.

Luz glares right back at him, but he knows he’s not in the right here. When he’d designed how his store would look, flowers really had never made it into any of the plans, now they’re a fairly prominent factor in the décor. Luckily, most of the customers seem to like them, or get a kick out of the sheer quantity of them.

Though, it’s nothing compared to the alarming number of flowers he has all over his small apartment. Where he’s tried to stay somewhat reasonable around the store, no such thing can be said about the flowers that are on almost every surface in his apartment, most without a vase, because he just couldn’t justify buying any more vases.

“I know flowers get you all hot and bothered now-a-days, but it’s just getting out of control. You can’t buy a bouquet of flowers every single morning, it’s just ridiculous.”

And Liebgott's not wrong, it’s been a little over two months since they first opened up shop here, and business has been growing steadily - most coming from their old shop they used to work at - but there’s one thing that has been plaguing Luz since their opening week. Joe Toye and his fucking flowers.

It’s not even Joe’s fault. He hasn’t been forcing Luz to buy a bouquet every time he comes into the shop. And he hasn’t been making Luz walk into the shop almost every single morning as though Luz has no control over his feet that just sort of drag him into Joe’s flower shop, despite how hard he tries to convince himself that he shouldn’t go over there. 

One good thing about being obsessed with a person who sells flowers, it means the product will eventually just die and he can get rid of it. Unfortunately, they don't die quite as fast as they need to in order for Luz's habit of buying them every single day to not be a serious problem.

"I don't know what to do, Lieb," Luz groans, sinking down in his chair. "It's not like I want to buy all these fucking flowers. But it's kind of like I can't help myself? Whenever I think he's about to ask me to blow him behind the counter he just doesn't and I panic and ask for more flowers instead."

Liebgott just narrows his eyes before scoffing and turning in the doorway.

"I'm not gonna give you relationship advice, George. Figure your shit out," he says, walking back into the front of the shop.

"And get these fucking flowers off my station," he yells.

"I thought they matched your eyes," Luz yells back.

"My eyes are brown, asshole."

"Really?"

"Fuck you."

 

The bell above the door chimes, signaling the arrival of a new customer, and Joe doesn't even need to turn around to guess who it'll be. Sure enough, when he finally does turn around, he comes face to face with George Luz.

When the tattoo parlor first opened up across the street, Joe never would have been able to foresee that the owner would become his best customer. And yet, like clockwork, Luz comes in every morning before he goes to open his own shop, to talk and buy some flowers. When they'd first met, Joe had assumed Luz was just kind of an idiot - a charming, adorable idiot - who had just been trying to soften Joe up by saying he liked flowers.

But now, Joe has to concede that the man must actually love them. It's the only explanation for the sheer number of flowers he's purchased from Joe in the last two months. He even decorated the tattoo parlor with the things. Joe has gone over once or twice and questioned the number of flowers he's seen, but Luz has assured him it's the aesthetic he's been trying to cultivate, so who is he to judge?

Not that Joe minds any of this. Joe can admit - to himself, only to himself, and one time to Faye when she pushed him about the dopey look on his face as he watched Luz leave one morning - that he likes their morning routine. He's enjoyed getting to know Luz, who is just as charming and adorable as he'd thought, but not nearly as dumb. He's funny, in a way Joe can appreciate, and seems to get Joe's own brand of humor as well. Which is bound to get someone on Joe's good list.

"Hey Joe," George greets him with his regular, wide smile. Though there's something tight around his eyes, making the smile seem a little forced. He also seems a little twitchier than normal.

"What's up?"

"Oh, ya know, up to no good, as usual," he says with a short chuckle.

Joe raises his eyebrow in question. Usually, Luz comes in and starts talking his ear off right away, he's never skirted around like this before.

"What's going on, Luz?"

"Uh...I need some flowers."

"No shit."

"Right...so...what would you recommend to give someone to ask them out?" Luz asks, his eyes drifting over to look at the far wall instead of at Joe.

Which Joe is pretty grateful for, as it takes him a second to steel his face back into a mask of indifference. In truth, his stomach has dropped and his palms have gone all sweaty.

He's disappointed, and angry with himself that he apparently waited too long to muster up the guts to just ask George out, and now it's too late. He's not sure what he'd been waiting for all this time, maybe for Luz to make the first move.

Now, instead, he has to swallow down his unearned jealousy.

"I wouldn't," he says.

George looks surprised. "What?"

"Asking someone out with a gift is like looking for trouble. What if they say no? Do you still give them the flowers? Do you keep them? Do you really want to keep something that reminds you of being rejected?" He reasons as Luz's eyes get wider and wider.

"Uh..."

"I'd suggest waiting to give them flowers on the first date, after they've said yes."

Luz huffs. "Well, I kind of have a whole thing planned here, Joe. So can you just help a guy out and put something together that'll make your heart flutter and not want to say no?"

Joe scowls, but Luz doesn't seem to be backing down, if his narrowed eyes are anything to go by, so Joe finally relents.

He's a professional after all, he can and will put together a beautiful bouquet that anyone would love. He's not going to let his feelings get in the way of him doing his job well. And if he handles the flowers just a little more rough than he needs to, well Luz's potential new boyfriend will never know.

He works in silence, even Luz doesn't seem willing to break the tension between them, clearly uncomfortable with Joe's ridiculous, jealous tantrum that he's currently throwing.

When he's finally done putting Luz's bouquet together he's calmed down enough to realize he's being dumb. George is still his friend, he shouldn't let his jealousy get in the way of that. So, he sighs and sets the flowers down in front of Luz more carefully than he'd been handling them before.

"It looks great," George says, running his thumb over the paper Joe had wrapped them in.

Joe deflates a little more. "Thanks."

"So, how much do I owe ya?" George asks, picking up his flowers.

"It's on the house."

"What? No, Joe."

"Seriously, you're my best customer, you deserve it. I hope he says yes."

Joe is sure, somewhere buried deep, deep down, he really means it.

George's grin comes back finally and his eyes light up. "Me too," he says with a wink, that Joe chooses to not react to.

"Ok, well, I gotta go do a thing," George says, holding up the flowers to indicate what that thing is. "I'll see ya soon, Joe, thank you!"

Joe nods and sends him a tight smile.

He waits until the door is completely shut behind Luz before he grabs a handful of twist ties and throws them against the wall. They lightly ping off the wall and bounce to the floor. It doesn't really have the effect Joe had been aiming for in releasing some of his frustration.

He doesn't have time to dwell on that though, as the bell above the door chimes again.

Joe composes himself and looks over toward the door to greet his newest customer, only to see Luz making his way back inside, still holding the flowers.

“Is something wrong?” Joe asks, noting that the twitchiness he’d noticed earlier is back and even more pronounced.

Luz just licks his lips and clears his throat before extending his arm out, holding the flowers across the counter in front of Joe.

“Uh, Joe, d’ya wanna go out with me?”

Joe just stands and watches Luz for a minute, not really sure why his brain isn’t able to comprehend what Luz is asking him.

Luz, for his part, just shakes the flowers at him a little more.

“What?” Joe finally asks, and Luz rolls his eyes.

“I asked if you wanted to go out with me.”

“But-“

“Jesus Christ, Joe, it’s not really that complicated. You’re the person I wanted to ask out. ‘s fucking clever, yeah?”

Joe feels his heart beat speed up and the corners up his lips tug themselves upward without his permission.

He’s sure he looks like a complete idiot, so to save some face he just says, “that’s really cheesy.”

“What?” Luz scoffs, “it’s not cheesy, it’s romantic as hell.”

“You’re just giving me back flowers I just gave to you,” Joe points out.

Luz lowers the arm that has been holding the flowers up this whole time. “I was planning on paying.”

“I still don’t know if that’s better.”

“Did you want me to go to one of your competitors instead? Give you some flowers from the shop on 5th street?”

Joe scowls. “Karen Haskell would never be able to make a presentation that good.”

Luz smiles and nods. “Damn straight. See, I only get you the best. It’s not my fault you happen to be the best. Now, are you gonna go out with me or what?”

He pretends to mull it over for another few seconds, just long enough to catch Luz off guard when he reaches across the counter, grabs the collar of Luz’s shirt, and pulls him in.

“Luz, just give me my flowers.”

To Luz’s credit, his only reaction to Joe’s aggressive move is to smile even wider.

“Hell of an idea, Joe,” he says, but instead of handing him the flowers, he sets them down on the counter so that he can wrap both his arms around Joe’s neck and pull him in for a kiss.

Joe will take that over flowers any day.

**Author's Note:**

> Funny how I have a fic named Nothing but Flowers, yet has nothing to do with flowers. And now when I have a fic about flowers I can't use it...I need a better naming system.


End file.
